Popular Song Lyrics

Analytical Essay # 116771

Communication > Interpersonal
Music Studies > Contemporary

Popular Song Lyrics

Looks at interpersonal communication by the songwriter as revealed through the lyrics of three popular songs.

2,005 words () | 0 sources | 2009 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explores what lyrics reveal about interpersonal communication dynamics in three different songs: "Self-Esteem" by Offspring, "You Changed My Life" by Bob Dylan and "A Case of You" by Joanie Mitchell. "Self-Esteem" by Offspring, the author suggests, is a great example of courtship behavior in a messed-up relationship; whereas, Dylan's "You Changed My Life" is about a man coming out of a negative time in his life and finding truth and honesty. In the song "A Case of You", the paper relates, Joanie Mitchell visualizes herself enclosed in a world full of colors where there is the prospect of definition, but the world inside is a lonely one.

From the Paper:

"The second verse hints even more to the idea that Dylan is struggling with fame and fortune: "Eating with the pigs / Off a fancy tray / I was bold, I was looking good / And to have a nice day / It all seemed so proper / And so elite / Eating absolute garbage / While being so discreet." You get the idea that the people he has surrounded himself with are not the people he would like to be around. The people around him may eat off of silver trays, but they're not good people. Everything seemed so good from the outside, he looked "proper" and "elite", but the truth is that everything was garbage."